So how can this city in the heartland make its mark? “The recommendation we received from everyone is, ‘Be yourself,’ ’’ said Kristen Fuhs Wells of the Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee. “We are nice people.’’
It is precisely that patina of Midwestern civility and generosity that Hoosiers are showcasing, starting with the knitters who crafted scarves for 8,000 volunteers fanning across this city of 820,000.
The host committee decided to embrace the chilly winter weather that is the norm here, even including it as part of the event’s theme. Thus was born the Super Scarf, blue-and-white scarves emblazoned with the Super Bowl logo. They’re handmade by knitters and crocheters to make Super Bowl volunteers easily identifiable.
Julie Underwood and her church knitting group in the suburb of Carmel created about 15 of the scarves knit in 45 states and three countries. Some knitters attached notes with their scarves that expressed gratitude for the volunteers’ efforts. Underwood didn’t include one with her fringe-less basket weave. “I just turned it in and later . . . I got my hair done and the hairdresser said she had a client who got the sweetest note with her scarf, and I just felt a little bad,’’ the 52-year-old mother said.
So she said a prayer in church that Sunday, hoping the scarf’s recipient knew “that he or she had been in my thoughts and prayers.’’ And later that day, a serendipitous meeting took place, and she was able to personally deliver that message to Paul O’Connor, the recipient of her scarf and the host committee’s cochairman of hotel Super Service. Underwood said she and her family were waiting in line for the football toss at the NFL Experience when she looked up “and sitting across the table there was this lady . . . and I thought: ‘Oh my goodness! That’s my scarf.’ ’’
